Gunina v Stefanova 1-0

Gunina didn’t went to 24. Bxc5 leading to a much better endgame for her. If 24.Bxc5 was played the continuation would be 24……Bxc5 25.Bxd3 Bxf2 26. Bxf5 Bxg1 27.Kxg1. She played 24. Bf3 Rac8 25. g4 Qh7 26. f5 and won in a several moves.

Kosintseva  v Lagno 1-0

Here is another game of blunder alerts with Lagno playing 21…..Ra3? allowing 22. Qe8+ Kg7 23.Rb8 +/-

Stefanova v Gunina 0-1

White still has some chances to hold position with 25.Rxd4 but instead the game continued like this: 25. Nxd4? Bc5! 26. Nb5 Rxd1+ 27. Qxd1 Bxe3 28. fxe3 Qxe3 -/+

Ambartsumova v Charochkina 1-0

Black is doing ok in this position and should play 25…Qc7 but instead played 25…Bxc4 missing the simple tactic of 26. Bxd6 attacking the Rook on a3 and Bishop on c4: 26…Rxb3 27. Qxb3! Bxb3 28. Rxc8 Bf8 29. Bf8 

Chen v Ubiennykh 0-1

The only move here for White is 19. h4 but played Rfb1 which loses to 19……Rxh2 20. Rb7 Qh5

Khotenashvili v Lagno 0-1

Only after 9 moves a blunder was made from Khotenashvili by playing 10. Nd1? which leads to 10…Nxf3 11. Bxf3 d4 12. Bf4 e5 -/+

Kosintseva v Gunina 1-0

Kosintseva is ready to play 22. h6 in this position which Gunina should respond with 22….Bf6 but instead plays 22…gxh6 and after 23. Rh6 Nf4 24. Qe4 White got the decisive attack.

M. Muzychuk v Chen  0-1

It was an equal position but White has made the mistake 19. a3? Now Black is getting ready to play the attacking move of 19…..Nxd4! The game continued on with 20. Nxd4 Qxc5 21. Rad1 Bxg4 22. hxg4 Rxd4 23. Kh1 Rxc4 -/+

Paehtz v Lagno 1-0

The position is about equal here (for example 26…Rxb1 27. Rxb1 Rb8) until Lagno plays 26…Ne5 and gives away the game. The game continued on 27. Nxe5+ fxe5 28. Nd3 Bf6 29. Bg3 Qd6 30. Bxe5 Rxb1

Sviridova v Shaydullina 0-1

White blundered to mate in 2 with 15. Nd4?? as the game continued with 15…Qxh2 16. Kf1 Qh1#

Selected by Jamie Kenmure.

Ambartsumova v Khotenashvili 0-1

In an equal position, white should have agreed with the draw, after 39. Qd2 Qg1 40. Qf2, but Ambartsumova tried to play for the win  the win, unfortunately Black’s attack was just a little faster. 39. Kf3? Qb1! 40. Qe2 Rxa2 41. Qe5 Qd1 42. Ke3 Qe2#

Zhao v Krush 0-1

White did not expect to the pawn to be so quick even with the strong pawns on kingside. Zhao has played 46. g5 and after 46… a3 she can’t stop this pawn 47. h5 a2   -/+

A. Muzychuk v Stefanova 0-1

All White has to do is play 70. Kc8 and it is better for her but … 70. Ka8?? Rb8 mate.

M Muzychuk v Guseva 1-0

And the same one: 35…Rh4?? 36. Qg7#

A. Muzychuk v Gunina 1-0

Black plays for some tricks by taking the d4 whith the bishop, with idea 19…Bd4 20. Nd4 Nc5, but but gets mated immediately 20.Ne7#

Gaponenko v Charochkina 0-1

Black has found a good combination: 19…Qxh3 20. f4 Qh6! 21. Kf2 Ng4 -/+

Guseva v M. Muzychuk 0-1

White’s 32nd move Rdc1 was a blunder because Black is winning a Rook. 32…Bf2 33. Rf2 Rc1 -/+

 Games selected by Jamie Kenmure.

Lagno v Gunina 1-0

Black plays 28…Ng5 which is a mistake because it leads to this small but attacking combination 29. Nxf6+ gxf6 30. Qg6+ Kf8 31. Qxf6+ 

Paehtz v Chen 1-0

After white play’s 34. Nxg7 Rxg7 35.Qh6+ it is all over for Black as there is no good defence from here.

Stefanova v Zhao 1-0

Nice attack coming for Stefanova for her 16th move. Here are the moves: 16. Rxg7+ Kxg7 17. Rg1+ Kh8 18. Ng6+ Kg7 19. Ne7+

Zhao v Stefanova 1-0

Just the simple 30…Qd6 would be ok for Black here but instead Stefanova 30…bxc4 31.Bxc4 Qa5 32. Bxg8 winning a whole rook.

Ambartsumova v Ubiennykh 0-1  

Black’s idea of playing 21…Nxh4 is not so bad, especially after White’s reply 22. Bg1 and 22…Bg6 pinning the queen.

Fominykh v Drozdova 1:0

White doesn’t need to worry about her rook on e1 and can simple play 28. Qh6+ Kg8 29. Ng5 Qxd5 30. Bxd5+ e6 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Qf7#. But  after 28. Rf1 Rc2 Fominykh played Qh6 a move later.

Lagno v Stefanova 1-0

White is looking at pushing with c6 and this actually happened in the game. Let’s see how the game continued: 30. c6 axb5 31. cxb7! Nd7 32. a5 bxc4 33. a6 c3 34. a7 c2 35. a8=Q Rd1 36. Kg2

Girya v Zhukova 0-1

If you want to lose a Rook, play 24.Qd2 and you will. This actually happened in the game.

Sviridova v Sukhareva 0-1

Here the position is equal until 17.Bd4 is played allowing 17…e5 and White losing a piece: 18. Be5 (18.Bc5 Nc3!) Be5 19. Ne5 Qe5 -/+

Selected by Jamie Kenmure.

Gaponenko v Stefanova 0-1

Black just has played 42…g5 and Gaponenko misses the move 43. Bc2 which can still hold a little longer but instead played 42.Qe3 which blunder the Rook on a4 away.

Lagno v Ambartsumova 1-0

Ambartsumova has just 39……Nxd5 which leads to mate in 2 with 40. Qxh6+ Kg8 41. Qxg7#

Ubiennykh v Khotenashvili 1-0

Khotenashvili missed the simple 46……Rxf2+ 47. Qxf2 Qxc7. She played 46…Qb2 47. Qf7 c1Q?? (after 47…Rf2 it was a draw) 47. Qg8#

Charochkina v Lagno 0-1

Would you believe it if it was mate in 2 from this position? Well it is through blunders of course. 40…….hxg4 41.Nh4 Qg1#

Dzagnidze v M. Muzychuk 1-0

22.Ng5! in this position is a very strong move.  The f7 pawn is under attack and the h1-a8 diagonal becomes strong as well. 22…Bc8 23. Rb5 Bd7 24. Bc6 +/-

M. Muzychuk v Dzagnidze 0-1

Afer 27…Be3 28. Kh1 White can hold the position. But 27…..Nf4! winning immediately.

Zhao v Zhukova 1-0

White just has played 28. e5 and Black could follow 28…Bf5 with better position. But they went 28…Nd5 makes the game better and easier for white to play.

 Dronavalli v Krush 1-0

This position is better for Black because of the extra pawn. Black should play 38…Be6 but instead plays 38…Rb7 39…Bb7 +/-

Dzagnidze v A Muzychuk 0-1

White just played 10. Be2 and this is a mistake. Now Black has a forceful attack with 10….. c3 11. Nb3 c2 12. Qd4 Bb4+

 Paehtz v Kosintseva 1-0

Engines say it is a drawn position but of cause White has a good practical chances to win. The game finished a couple of moves later from this position and this is how it was done: 66…Nb5? (better was 66. Nf7) 67. Nxe5 Nd4 68. Nf3+

Stefanova v Kosteniuk 1-0

Very interesting to see that Black has hardly any moves to play here and after 26.Rcb1 Black will be losing the b-pawn and the game.

Girya v Gunina 0-1

Black finds the mating attack after White’s mistake 31. Ne2 (better was 31. gxf5). Here is the attack: 31……Qa1+ 32. Bf1 Nf3+ and after White plays 33.Kg2 Black replies with Ne1+ and winning the queen.

Kashlinskaya v Drozdova 0-1

White to play and Kashlinskaya resigned on her 58th move. Even though there is a fork, it is actually winning for white after she plays 58.Kg2 Rb1 59. Rd3 Kg8

Popova v Fominykh 1-0

The position is about equal but Black should play quite accurate. Here Fominykh makes the bad move 38….g4 (better was 38…Qe8) as now White has played 39.Ra1 with the decisive attack. The next couple of moves were 39…Kc8 40. Ra8+ Kc7 +/-

Games selected by Jamie Kenmure.

Round 11.

Gaponenko v Kosteniuk 0-1

The position is equal here on white’s 29th move but Kosteniuk takes control of the game by playing 29…b5 by forcing the white bishop to go back. The game continued like this: 30. Bd1 b4 31. a4 c3 32. bxc3 bxc3 33. d5 Rb1 34. Rd4 c2

Fominykh v Dronavalli 0-1

An equal ending and Fominykh blunders away the game with 62. Kh4 Nd4 63. Rd5 Nf3+. All that was need was the simple Kg4 and this game would be a draw.

Ambartsumova v Chen 1-0

Again, we are seeing equal positions and this is another example. Chen just needed to play 27…..Bf8 and all is ok for her. This is how Ambartsumova finished the game: 27…Qa5 28. Bg2 Rc8 29. Rh3 Nb8 30. Qh4 Kf8 31. Qxh7 Ke8 32. Qg8+ Bf8 33. Qxf8+

M. Muzychuk v Kosintseva 0-1

Black has just played 30…Qc6 and white now plays 31.Qc2 which is a mistake. White should just play 31. dxe4 and Muzychuk will be ok. A few moves of how the game went. 31. Qc2 exd3 32. Qd2 Rxe1+ 33. Rxe1 Qxa4

Round 12

Lagno v Zhao 1-0

18. Rh4! This now leads to a nice attack for Lagno which will end the game in several moves. 18…Nxh4. 19. Bxh7+ Kf8 20. Nxh4 Re7 21. Ng6+ Ke8 22. Ne5 Kf8 23. Bg6

Drozdova v Fominykh 1/2

Drozdova is very lucky to get a draw in this position after Fominykh played the move 43…Qb3+ 44. Kc1 Qe3 45. Kc2 Qb3 where if Fominykh played the 43…b4! with a winning attack.

Kosteniuk v Guseva 1-0

Black should play 22… Qe6 but instead plays the horrible 22…Nxd4 which leads to disaster for Guseva. The game continued after 22…Nxd4 23. Bxd4 Rc4 24. e6! Qc7 25. Rxg7+

Round 13.

 Bezgodova v Cramling 0-1

This position white has just played 35. Be2 and Black finds the nice one 35…Qg1+ which wins a piece after 36. Kxg1 Nxe2+ 

Paehtz v Ambartsumova 1-0

Paehtz just played 14. f6 in this equal position and Black made the mistake with 14…Bxf6. The next couple of moves were 115. Qf2 Be5 16. Qxf7+ Kh8 17. Rf3 Rg8 18. Raf1 with a strong initiative for White

Zhao v Kosteniuk 1/2

Zhao’s last try is to play 89. f5 which Kosteniuk replied with 89…Bxf5! and this leads to a draw as the King stays on g7-h8 squares.

Round 14

Gunina v Kosteniuk 1-0

Black’s 23rd move of Rab8 lead to White’s excellent move of 24. Nxf7 Qxf7 25. Rd6 and to a more advantageous ending for Gunina

Kashlinskaya v Stefanova 0-1

This position might not look so great at first, but is still very defendable and the correct way to proceed is 49. Kh2 Bf4 50. Qd1 but instead 49. Kg1 was played and this won the game for Stefanova.

Kosintseva v Krush 1-0

Blacks 13th move of Rg8 leads to mate in 4 moves after 14. Qf4. If Black plays 13…Nf5, there is chances to hold the game.

Lagno v Ushenina 1-0

White is threatening 41.Rxa6, so Black should play 40……Rb6 and it is defendable. Instead Black went with 40…f5 to attack the queen and lost the game after 41. Ra6!

Round 15

Gunina v Lagno 0-1

The position is dead equal here. So it’s not find the move that wins for white, but instead find the move that loses. If you said 39.Kh3 you are correct, you would just play 39…Nf4#. This actually what happened in the game.

Games selected by Jamie Kenmure.

Round 6.

Kosteniuk v Kosintseva 1-0

White finds the winning move here with 41. Qe8+ and the game continued on with 41…Qf8 42. Rxg6+ and now it is all over for Black.

Popova v Sukhareva 1-0

The position after Black’s 18th move and White plays the typical19. Bxg5 hxg5 20. Qxg5 Nxh5 21. Qxh5+ Kg8 and now Black’s king is in a lot of trouble and is definitely not safe.

Bezgodova v Ambartsumova 0-1

White is about to play 17. Rad1 but this is a blunder. Black replied with 17…Qxg3 and White cannot take back because of the pin from the Bishop on c5.

Tuvshintugs v Muminova 1-0

Tuvshintugs missed a mate in 11 but with time pressure it is hard to see. The easiest way would be to swap Queens off and develop white’s king. This is the position after Black’s 55th move. What would you do?

Round 7

Dronavalli v Stefanova 0-1

The current Women’s Rapid World Champion was happy to see that Dronavalli made a mistake with 45. Re1 (after 45. Rce6 the chances are equal) and the game continued with 45…Ra8 46. Kb1 Ra3 47. Rxc5 Rb3+ and Stefanova got the winning position.

Gaponenko v Chen 1-0

Its Black’s 20th move and Chen can play Qd8 but instead plays Qc5. The game continue on with 21. Be3 Qd6 22. Rfd1 Qf6 23. Bg5 Nf5 24. Bxf6 Nxh4 25. Bxh4 with en extra piece.

M. Muzychuk v Kosteniuk 0-1

It’s White’s 36th move and white plays Bg1 which gives Black the advantage. If white simply plays 36. Rc2 it is ok. After 36. Bg1 Qh4+ 37. Kg2 d5 38. Rd4 Ne1+ leads to the game for Black.

Paehtz v Ubiennykh 1-0

Here Black is doing ok until Ubiennykh plays 26…Rxe5 which is a gift for Paehtz. The next couple of moves went like this: 27. Rbxe5 b5 28. Re7 Qd8 29. Qe2 Qd4+ 30. Kh1 Bd5 and White is winning.

Round 8

Kosteniuk v A. Muzychuk 0-1

The position has arisen after White’s 19th move which was 19. Qa3. Muzychuk now finds the brilliant 19…e3 which is only the beginning to her attack. 20. fxe3 f3 21. Qb3+ Kh8 22. gxf3 Qd7 23. Re2 Bxf3 24. Qc4 e4 25. Ne1 Qg4+ 26. Rg2 Bxg2 These were the next 6 moves after the above position.

 Muminova v Khotenashvili 1-0

The first but decisive mistake of the game was 34…Qg5 as the nice attack only now begins for Muminova against the Georgian player. Here is this nice attack:  35. Rxd5 exd5 36. Re8 Rc1+ 37. Kh2 Qxg2+ 38. Kxg2 g5 39. Bh5

 Stefanova v Dzagnidze 1-0

White has an initiative, but Black’s position is still defendable. So let’s see how Black lost this position in just a couple of moves. 36…Re7 37. Rbf8+ Kg7 38. Bb2 Rd6 39.
Nxf5+ gxf5 40. Kf4 Kg6 41. Bxf6 Rxf6 42. Rhg8+ Rg7 43. Rxf6+ Kxf6 44. Rxg7

 Tuvshintugs v Charochkina 1-0

Tuvshintugs has just played 25.e6 and this move just finishing off her attack on Charochkina’s King. The game continued as follows 25…fxe6 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Bxg7+
Nxg7 28. Bg6 Qb6+ 29. Kh1

Round 9.

Girya v Kosteniuk 1-0

The local star Girya has an ok position here and Kosteniuk should just play 22…Bd6 but instead plays 22…Qc7 which leads to Girya been happy. After 23. Qh5 White’s attack is too strong.

Krush v Cramling 1-0

Krush has just played 24. Nb5 which begins to give her a small edge but after Cramling plays 24…Qc8 it leads to a simply better position for White. The next 2 moves were 25. Nxd6 Qe6 26. Nb5 Nd7

Paehtz v Chen 1-0

White has just played 14. cxd4 leaving her Rook to be taken from the Bishop on b7. Usually this would be ok to take, but being greedy sometimes will cost you the game. Here is what happened in just a few moves: 14…Bxh1 15. f3 b5 16. Nf2 Bxf3 17. Qxf3 Rd8

Round 10 

Chen v Bezgodova 1-0

White to play and win in 4 moves. This is how Zhu Chen did it: 31. f4 Qc5 32. Qc3+ Kg8 33. gxf5 Rh6 34. Rg3+

Kosteniuk v Krush 1-0

Kosteniuk has just played 33.Nxf7 and Black makes a blunder by playing 33…Rxd5 (better was 33…Bd5). Kosteniuk finished the game off in style. 34. Nxe5+ Kg7 35. cxd5 Bxd5 36. Nxg6 Rc6 37. Ne7

Sviridova v Muminova 0-1

Sviridova just played 24. Qc6 and Muminova finished the game 3 moves later. This is how it finished: 24…Qg4+ 25. Kh1 Rec8 26. Qd5 Rxc1 27. Bxc1 Qh3

Tuvshintugs v Fominykh 0-1

This is the position after black’s 26th move. 5 moves later the game finishes like this: 27. Nc6 Ng3+ 28. Kxh2 Rxb2 29. Nxe5 Nxf3+ 30. N1xf3 Qh6+ 31. Kg1 Qh1+

Games selected by Jamie Kenmure

Anastasia has been working as a deputy chief arbiter for last 3 weeks in Khanty-Mansiysk – firstly at Women Grand Prix and lately at FIDE Women World Rapid and Blitz championships.

- How did you like the organization of tournament here in Khanty?

- I like the organisation of this tournament. It is a small city but very clean and modern. The conditions are excellent. It is of a high level of organization and I am extremely impressed by Ugra Chess Academy!

-  Is there any difference between women and men’s tournaments? Is there any special atmosphere during women events?

- I think there is a huge difference between men and women’s events. When women play, you never know how a game will finish until the very last move. We have a lot of surprises in the games, it’s never boring to watch women chess. Let’s say during Women Grand Prix there was a great atmosphere, everyone enjoyed some chat, a common tea or coffee during the tournament.

-  What was the most touching tournament in your arbiter career?

- You know, each tournament is very special for me. Chess Olympiad for example has a special atmosphere and I really enjoy it to be there. There is always fighting chess during Grand Prix’s events. And of course I like kids’ tournaments and there is something special because you feel really motivated and I like to follow how young champions are growing up. Let’s take for example Magnus Carlsen!  I remember him when I played in Dubai Open in 2003 or 2004 and he was just a small boy and now he is the World Champion!

-  How many years have you been working as an arbiter and what do you think about this job? Are there many women arbiters in Australia?

- I became an International Arbiter in 2002. And a lot of rules changes happened during those 12 years of course. I like this job very much.  I was a chess player in the past as well, so I know that one of the most important tasks of an arbiter is to support chess players who may face different kinds of problems during the games. I really respect all chess players as I know how hard they are working to achieve the most! And I always try to do my best during an event.

Unfortunately there are not many female arbiters in Australia, although it’s not just Australia, there are not many female arbiters around the world.

-  What do you think could be improved to get more female arbiters?

- If we will compare chess with other sports, normally during women events, they always have at least half of women arbiters/referee’s. I think we need to have more motivation for women to become professional arbiters. We have some professional women arbiters but it’s not enough because the amount of women events is growing.  The problem is that you can’t become an arbiter in “one day”.  It’s not enough to just know the rules of chess to be a good arbiter. You also need a lot of experience. There are so many different events with a different systems of play, different time controls and each of them has own regulations and tasks.  How could you compare World Cup, Olympiad, Blitz and Rapid World championships? Until you haven’t got this experience you will never know how each event works on practice.

-  You are also WIM and played chess professionally for many years. Have you had a wish to sit and play here?

- I came from a chess family, my uncle is Belarussian GM Viktor Kupreichik, and when I started my career, of course my plan was to become a World Champion. Later on I discovered it is not so easy, and you have to be a really hard worker in chess. It was almost impossible to make money from chess. Now the situation has changed, FIDE did a lot of work during the last years and today women have many FIDE events with good prize funds. Before women players could only dream of 200,000 Euro prize fund for the Women World Championship Match, 75, 000 prize fund for Women Grand Prix! And today those who play chess professionally can earn money out of chess. So maybe it`s a right time to start my chess player career again. (laughing) Of course I’m joking now, as I love my arbiter job and I’d say that conditions for arbiters have also changed to better.

-  You have played in the 1996 and 1998 Olympiad for Belarus and 2004 Olympiad for Australia. Which country did you like playing for: Belarus or Australia?

When I played for Belarus it was very professional as we had a Soviet Union chess school. Each game you have to win and you play for the team. When I played for Australia, it was more relaxing and I like this atmosphere and I really love Australian people, they are always smiling. Now because of my circumstances I have to live between two countries but I feel Australia is my second home.

-  You have a chess school in Minsk. Please tell me more about this school?

- I founded my chess school one year ago and I teach kids of the ages from three to seven. I really like to work with small kids, and I want them to enjoy playing chess. Right now I do not aim to raise world champions, I see my task in making a lot of kids fond of chess, showing them how fun chess can be, and through chess develop the qualities that can help them in their lives. It is known that those who train chess from the early age are also doing better in school.

- Thank you for chatting to us here in the press centre and we wish you all the best in all your chess activities.

- Thank you.